Mungeli is more than 700 km away from the Uttar Pradesh capital. Yet for desperate and hungry Lalaram and his family, the distance did not matter as they set out on foot on Thursday evening, with a few bicycles loaded with meagre possessions, heading home to Chhattisgarh.
With Lalaram were his wife, their four-year-old daughter, his father and other relatives.
As the lockdown stretched on, the stranded workers had run out of patience and decided to undertake the uncertain journey home.
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A construction worker staying in a slum colony in Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar area, Lalaram has been out of work since the lockdown began in late March. Though he, like other labourers in the colony, has been occasionally receiving ration kits and food packets from NGOs, local authorities and a political workers, he said these were not enough for sustenance.
“We get puris. How long will we survive on puris? We also need money for our expenses,” he said.
Since no bus or train services are operational to Chhattisgarh, the family is attempting the journey on foot, like several other migrant workers across the country desperate to reach home.
Abandoned by authorities
Lalaram’s wife Santoshi is agitated. She blames the government for not taking note of their situation even after two months.
“Kya kare? Sarkar toh andha ho gaya hai (What can we do? The government has become blind to our plight),” she says. “Hume kuch matt de, khali humko ghar chorde, Chattisgarhh (We don’t want anything from the government. We just want to be dropped home).”
Lalaram, a migrant from Chhattisgarh, and his wife and 4-year-old daughter outside their hut in Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow.
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Special Arrangement
However, Mungeli will not sustain these landless labourers too long, with limited opportunities for work. They say they will be compelled to return to Lucknow for work once life returns to normal. But home, where the couple’s three other children live, offers emotional and social support, especially amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“Yahan marenge toh koi nahi dekhega. Gaon mein marenge toh koi hamare parivar toh dekh lega (Nobody will care even if we die here. If we die in our village, at least we will have our families to take care of us),” says a clearly desperate Santoshi.
Impending monsoon
The summer is yet to hit its peak but these workers estimate that they will not be able to return to their work for many more months. Construction work also slows down during the monsoons, so they feel it is better to leave now.
Many of the labourers in group said they had waited for weeks in anticipation that the U.P. government would start plying buses to transport them home, just like it was bringing back its migrants stranded outside.
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